The French city you should know better

With its elegant buildings, fascinating medieval quarter and gastronomic riches, Béziers has long been overlooked. That must change, says Sudi Pigott

Known as Languedoc’s capitale du vin and for its bullfighting arena which doubles as an opera venue, Béziers has for many years been a slumbering beauty of a southern French city. It is full of faded, elegant buildings, charming museums and independent shops, yet overlooked by Francophile lovers of sun, history and food for better-known Riviera and Provençal spots.

I have been visiting for a dozen years and am thrilled to see France’s second-oldest city, originally built by the Greeks, awakening from years of faire tapisserie – an adorable expression for being a wallflower – with fresh allure. Gastronomically, this is a great time to visit, with the opening of various new restaurants (one with lofty culinary credentials), not to mention the impending wine harvest and October Fête du vin. Go now and you can hold on to summer a little bit longer.

The visionary 17th-century engineer Pierre-Paul Riquet, one of the best known Biterrois, was never in doubt of his city’s importance – so much so that he convinced the 17th-century equivalent of Rishi Sunak (Jean-Baptiste Colbert) to finance the building of the Canal du Midi. It connected the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean, passing through his beloved Béziers, and revolutionised trade in southern France.

Get a taste of its pioneering prowess with a visit to the Nine Locks of Fonseranes, a magnificent flight of staircase locks that allows boats from the Canal du Midi to descend nearly 70ft. If this whets your appetite for more, follow it with a stop at an excellent new immersive cinema experience that brings to life all the vicissitudes of canal planning, and even offers hydrogen-powered bikes to hire if you fancy a leisurely cycle along the canal path.

Today, a statue of Riquet presides over Allées Paul Riquet, one of the most underrated boulevards in France. Stroll idly down its lush corridor of plane trees, pause at its weekly flower, produce and brocante markets, then reward yourself with a stop at one of the grand cafés spilling onto the wide pavement. Grand Café de la Comedie, which opened in 1898, comes highly recommended for coffee, people watching and the local Cabécou goat’s cheese grilled salad.

The avenue is lined with beautiful Haussmanian mansions, built on fortunes made through winemaking – ideal for promenading, especially after a glass of Picpoul. I sense Riquet must be nodding a gleeful “told you so”, as Béziers gracefully re-emerges from its ambitious programme of restoration.

It has been a long haul which I have watched with growing fascination, alongside my great friend from university, Helen, who more than a decade ago had the good fortune and foresight to buy a villa in Maraussan, a village just beyond Béziers. I have grown very attached to this place over the years, and the curlicue-decorated cupola atop the original cast-iron Baltard-style Les Halles marks one of my favourite stopoffs. The covered market opened in 1891, and was a sad, neglected apology of a food destination, with few stalls occupied, when I first visited. Now, it is buzzing with foodie bravado.

One evening Helen and I treated ourselves to a gargantuan Aubrac côte de boeuf to grill on the barbecue; on another we assembled our own plateau of fruits de mers with razor clams and local Baie de Thau oysters. The brave and curious can also try horse meat (including what appears to be penis). There is also Philomene Traiteur, offering tagines, paella, cheese soufflés to reheat and, my favourite, tielles. Surely a street food trend waiting to happen, these are crimped pastries filled with piment d’espelette, spiced tomato and cuttlefish – a recipe that originates in Sète. Summers are long in Languedoc, and at the market there are still bountiful heritage tomatoes, bunches of purple tinged artichokes and vibrant Swiss chard leaves, besides strawberries with mesmerisingly sweet intensity.

The opening of restaurants is a sure sign of a city on the rise. Tapas is the order of the day at Pica Pica and Le Chameau Ivre on La Place Jean Jaurès, both with much style and a mix of French and Spanish dishes. What’s more, a thrilling gastronomic restaurant has just opened, L’Alter-Native (lalternativerestaurant.com), where many ingredients for the fish and vegetable-only menus are produced by the chef-proprietor, Béziers-born Gilles Goujon, on his pioneering aquaponic farm on the edge of the city. He is the first chef of his calibre to combine the best of aquaculture and hydroponics in a closed circle, surely a path many sustainably minded chefs will follow.

Goujon trained with a giant of French gastronomy, the late Roger Vergé of the three Michelin-star Moulin de Mougins, who shook up tradition by bringing Mediterranean-style food into French cuisine. At L’Alter-Native, I feasted on the most dazzling meal I have had in years – from the langoustine tail (cooked with a nod to the strong North African presence in Béziers: wrapped in kataifi and accompanied by a Moroccan spiced couscous broth), to a veritable cheese chariot, which was phenomenal.

But it is not all food and boulevards – this is a city teeming with history and culture, too. In 1209, the Place de la Madeleine was the scene of the bloodiest episode in Béziers history when

Simon de Montfort led the crusade against the Cathars and massacred thousands of Bitterois who had come to the church to seek refuge. The scars of this tragedy are still visible, including a plaque opposite the cathedral recording the “Day of Butchery” by the “northern barons”.

If you prefer your history cryptic rather than gory, head for Place Pierre Semarda, where a new cultural initiative – led by the charismatic Chantal Viotte-Rabinovitch and her partner, Paul Benzimra – has led to the opening of a modest Jewish museum in a mansion alongside the synagogue. It’s a beautiful building, but that’s not all: it may even come with the thrill of a Hebrew Da Vinci Code. I won’t reveal all, but suffice to say the intrepid couple, who run educational workshops and tours of the city’s former Jewish quarter in the medieval Old Town, have discovered hidden Hebrew words in a number of paintings at the city’s gothic Saint Nazaire Cathedral.

And there is more culture to come. The grand Bishop’s Palace, later the Courts of Justice, will be an ambitious Béziers gallery-museum, with an opening planned for 2023/4. Meanwhile, the former jail – with the same magnificent view of the Orb valley as the imposing cathedral – will be transformed into a luxury hotel next year. With all it has to offer, I can’t imagine its guests complaining about being detained there.

I won’t reveal all… but the Jewish museum comes with the thrill of a Hebrew Da Vinci Code

Hotel Dix Neuf (hoteldixneuf.com) offers rooms from €100 (£85) per night in the centre of Béziers. You can rent the delightful La Bastide in nearby Maraussan, sleeps eight, from £767 per week ( frenchconnections.co.uk). For more information on visiting the city, go to beziers-mediterranee.com

FRANCE Béziers 100 miles

Stall order: street food at the Feria Holy water: Saint Nazaire Cathedral on the river Orb